Love Story
by Ragyn
Summary: Umi is sent back to Cephiro along with the other two Knights. I am in the process of rewriting this! sorry its taken about a year!!lol 8/28/02..May contain adult content in future chapters...r
1. Love Story

Authors notes: Well it is that time again. Friday the 7th when I plan on posting this fic. I hope  
people have at least read the introductions. If not they can soon be found at  
http://clefchan.tripod.com/clefumi/fanfiction.html  
but right now that link is down. Check back in a couple of days. I'll have it working soon  
My plan is to post this story at least every Friday however I know there will be times I wont be  
able to so hold on to your horses if you really like it. If you have to send me a tourch then  
send it to shadowplaygirls@yahoo.com because we dont want the ml to get subjected to   
burns. The usual disclaimers aply here. I spell bad and I dont always spell check but I'll try.   
Thank you for caring so much. Usual Disclaimers: Dont sue me 'cause I have no money.  
Clamp characters are not mine, no da. OH and I wrote this while listening to Macross Plus  
soundtrack... "Voices" so that might explain a few things.  
  
  
"Love Story"  
Chapter 1; Voices  
Date: July 3-7, 2000  
  
  
On Cephiro:  
  
His hand brushed across a gem coated glass while his eyes shifted up to Ferio. A   
patient Ferio waited as he sat in silent thought. "I really am not sure Ferio," Clef mustered  
a small frown. It wasn't every day that Clef did not know the answer. Since the Magic Knights  
had gone back to their own world he had seemed to know less or at least less of what the   
people asked him. "I don't know if they can come back. I see no reseason for them to come  
back to Cephiro. We are in no need of their help."  
Ferio moved his own drinking glass aside, "Clef, are we even sure of that? With the  
pillar system gone we are not sure of anything. Let alone me being a Prince. How are the people  
going to pray for the land of Cephiro by themselves?" Ferio's emerauld colored eyebrows pulled  
together in a scawl. "I am sure that right now some are wishing for a pillar to guide them. People  
often look towards one person in dependence."  
"Yes I know but Hikaru prayed it so..."  
"She prayed it so but not even the Pillar has the strength of all the people of Cephiro  
combined. How long will it be untill this current system crumbles. The circlet still stays in the  
top tower of this castle!" Ferio sat back in his chair. A sudden thought on his mind. 'Perhaps,  
I wish for this world's fall,' Ferio's eyes softened as his brows unknitted themselves. 'Fuu I need  
you right now,' a blush slowly creeped across his cheeks and down his nose.   
Clef's glass reflected his eyes in the empty bottom. Clear crystal blue eyes that spoke  
in volumes without even uttering a sound. It was his eyes that told his true age even when his  
form stayed so young. A small mouth chiseled out of pale skin pursed as thoughts flooded his  
mind,'if what Ferio says does come true then who would call apon the Magic Knights? Would  
it be as last time?' A breath fogged up the image in the cup making it distortated as if a screen  
was being held over him.   
"I've been thinking about her..." Ferio looked away and released his breath, "I just can't  
stop thinking about Fuu. What is she doing now? I know that it can never be but what if there  
was a chance they had to stay here?" Ferio's eyes told his story. Even the shadow that ran down   
his face couldn't hide the look of hurt and total loss.   
"Ferio, I do not believe they will be called back. If they ever are called back we do not  
know if it will be in our life time or if it will even be the same Magic Knights called apon. You  
have to remember that it was just a few days and the Magic Knights had returned to Cephiro. I  
do believe Fuu even said that it had been about a week. A few days can add up..." Clef let himself  
trail off. If every week spent on Earth equaled only three short days in Cephiro. 'How long  
is a Earth week?' Clef pushed his headdress further up onto his head. A few strands of light   
purple hair swept away from his face and away from his eyes.  
'How are you Umi?' Clef closed his eyes. "Prince Ferio, if you would excuse me? I have  
something to check up on." Clef opened his eyes at the youthful Cephirean. No one would   
guess that even Ferio had seen hundreds of years. Ferio certainly didn't act his age. Since Ferio  
had become Prince he had seemed more sure of the things around him but there was something  
missing. Ferio lacked experience. Granted that he was brave, dashing, a complete hero to some  
but he needed something more then being sure of himself to lead a country and be it's political  
leader for treaties with the three other worlds. Clef reached up with a small hand and pinched the  
bridge of his nose, "Ferio?" Ferio had become more sure of himself but every day Ferio would  
doubt himself. Anyone would doubt himself if they suddenly became a elected leader with out  
knowing that the election was going on.  
Ferio turned his cat golden eyes upon the Doushi. "Ah, sorry Clef. I was just think'n   
about Fuu," a pink cast returned to his checks. Almost as if it pained him to move, Ferio stood  
up slowly. His eyes looking out a window towards the Cephiron sky.   
"Yes I know," Clef spoke without needing to. Nothing could even begin to comfort   
Ferio. It would take his own time and his own thoughts that would comfort him. Eventualy he  
would get over it. All things did come to pass.   
"If you wish to sleep I could make you a potion," Clef scooted out of the chair he sat   
in to show Ferio towards the door.   
"No, thank you. I just want to think some things over. Thank you for talking to me  
today before arrangments with Autozam, " Ferio inclined his head to the short mage and walked  
out of the room. A slow pensive gait took over Ferio's normally carefree walk.  
The door to the study closed behind Clef. He was leaving his study for the first time  
in awhile. Since the Magic Knights had left for their world. Clef looked about him but all was the  
same. Not much changed in a castle that contained inhabitants that could live for hundreds upon  
hundreds of years.   
The brush of his robes against the floor with the occasional bird song was the only   
sounds echoing in the long twisting halls of the castle. The marble floor reflected a white   
translucent image as he walked down it. The click of his staff against that same floor resounded   
off the walls. His goal was the look out room. A room he foundly remembered from his late  
night talks with her. A small hand reached out towards the door and paused. 'Why do I continue  
to stay this way?' He flexed his fingers on the surface of the door. His tiny fingers clinched in a   
fist then uncurled.  
His hands and fingers were the same hands and fingers he dreamed of seeing on a  
tree trunk. If he closed his eyes he could see the trees in his dream. The trees were all twisted  
and narled. The deeper he had gone into the forest the more the trees were twisted and narled  
into shapes of pain and agony. As he had imagined they had once been living before someone  
had managed to turn their human bodies into trees. The people had simply writhed in agony  
as they transformed giving them the shapes that they currently existed in.   
'Your dwelling upon that dream again,' Clef mused. The heavy door swung open  
under a silent command. The room before him was eternally surrounded in magical light. A  
dome ceiling of a glass like material loomed above him. The marble room lay bare. The purpose  
for the room wasn't to entertain people but to work magic and for reflection. He had often   
come here on his sleepless nights to look out the side windows towards the gardens. That was  
when he had first found Zagato and Emerauld talking. 'How long ago was it that the scene had  
occured?' Clef titlted his head up towards to domed ceiling. His pale throat leaned back and   
exposed its' self to the light of the sun. 'It seems as if it was only a dream,' Clef let his lavender  
eyelashes fall over his eyes.'Maybe you are living in a dream,' Clef droped his shoulders and   
relaxed his arms at his sides.   
----  
On Earth:  
  
"Umi, Im home!" Her mother shouted from down stairs. Her voice bright and shining  
from the luncheon with a old high school friend. "Umi did you hear me? I brought you   
something back!" Umi's mother looked up the stairs towards her daughter's silent room. "Umi?  
Are you alright?"  
Umi sighed and opened up her door, "Yes mother! Thank you. Just leave the food on  
the kitchen table. I'll get it here before I go out."   
"Alright honey. If you go out remember to be careful!"   
"Okay Mother!" Umi leaned against her door. Maybe food would cheer her up. The   
first time she left Cephiro with Fuu and Hikaru she had felt bad but now she felt even worse.  
'How? The pillar problem was solved. I didn't leave anyone behind like Fuu did. Fuu must be  
hurt so badly now. I haven't talked to her since we got back.' Umi put her right hand over her   
heart. 'Her heart is probably broken. I should go to her house and see if shes well.'  
On her way out of the house Umi stopped momentarily to glance at herself in the  
mirror. Her features were as fine as a chiseled statue and about as cold looking. Her eyes could  
instantely change the way her features looked. At the current moment Umi's liquid blue eyes  
reflected a kind sadness. She was worried. It wasn't a stressful worry. She really wasn't even sure  
what she was worried about. Waves of feelings would just wash over her every once and awhile.  
She didn't know where they came from but they were there. Most of the time the feelings were  
of calm. In desperate situations when she would get mad or panic she had become calm and   
relaxed but that had been on Cephiro. 'No doubt Clef's part,' Umi looked away from herself.  
"Clef..." Umi let her head drop. Could it be that she did hold feelings in her heart  
for him? Everytime the calmness in her heart came she would always think about him. After  
the Knights first visit she had even caught herself daydreaming about him. They were rather  
rediculious thoughts.   
"Did you say something dear?"  
"No mom. I was just about to leave."  
"Alright. Goodbye and have a nice walk."  
"Okay mom. Thank you. Tell dad I said Hi." Her face brightened with a forced smile  
for her mother's enjoyment. The front door swung close after her and she slowly made her way   
to the pavement of the sidewalk. Her feet felt heavey and unsure for one of the first times in   
her life. 'What is happening to me?' Umi titlted her head up and looked away from her house  
to the tall red tower. 'Tokyo Tower. The place where everything had began.' A place where  
she was no longer the main subject of a story. She was only a player in a bigger play.  
'Before Emerauld, it was fencing turnements that ment everything to me. Turnaments  
and my parents. I wanted my parents to love me as they love each other.' Her eyes looked   
down at her shoes. Umi's eyes squinting in the glaring sun's light.   
She walked on and on. Her thoughts else where. When she finally realized something  
was wrong it was then mid-day. Her original plan had been to visit Fuu and to spend the day   
with her and maybe with Hikaru. While her mind wondered her feet unconciously took her   
farther and farther away from Fuu's house. She even passed Hikaru's house. When she finally   
looked up the sun glared down at her. The cool morning sun had traded spots for a mid-day sun.  
The warmth slowly turning into a more of a baking sensation. 'Where am I?' Umi looked   
around her.  
She wasn't in Tokyo nor in the suburban district of it either. She could still hear the  
traffic, cars, and people but they seemed distant. The occasional tree in a yard had slowly   
become two or three then even more. One wouldn't consider it a forest because of the street and  
the sidewalk running through it. Or would they? To her right a small shrine pushed back into  
the trees stood still and silent in the shade. 'Perhaps someone could give me directions back to  
some place familiar and maybe a glass of water.'   
Once in the shade of the trees by the shrine she could see more clearly. The sun's glare   
had been in her eyes on her walk to the forest. Even when her head had been downcast in   
thought. Now as she walked a old cobblestone path up to the shrine she could see the crack of  
the paint on the wood of the shrine. Most of the tiles on the roof were either broken or missing.  
'Its abandoned. Just my luck.' Umi sighed.  
She turned to go but stopped. At least she could rest here for awhile. It may not be  
abandoned. Sometimes temples and shrines were just run down. Her fist rapped lightly on the   
front door. Upon contact with her fist the door fall off its hindges. "OH MY GOD!" Umi shouted  
and jumped back from the falling door. Thankfully the door fell in towards the house instead  
of out towards Umi. It had to be abandoned. No matter how much a priest lost in money they   
wouldn't let a shrine get this run down.  
The shrine was empty. No statues, no ornaments, not even furniture graced the  
building. Outside the shrine in the back laid gardens. Mostly over grown by weeds and grass.  
Every so often Umi caught a glance at a rose or a tulip but mainly it was weeds that had spread  
over the whole garden area. A small path from the house past the gardens into the small woods  
curved up a hill and vanished out of sight.   
"Why am I doing this?" Umi mumbled as she pushed her way past thorny branches  
and thick under brush. 'Because your drawn to it. Theres something familiar about all this.'   
Umi let her hands rest at her sides as she looked over a clearing. A clearing with a large flat stone  
in the middle. It was oddly familiar. She had followed the path past the gardens and upward on  
the slope. Finally she had made it but to where? There was just one big flat rock in the middle  
of a clearing up here.  
"funny,' Umi looked up above the rock and found that the area above the rock was  
cleared of any tree branches. The clear blue sky looked down upon her with a cheerful greeting.  
'It seems as if the tree twist away from this area.' Umi let herself chuckle. To think she was getting  
worried about some clearance in a forest.   
Umi sat down on the flat rock. A sigh escaped her lips. 'I'll just rest here for awhile.'  
Umi layed back with her hands above her head, using them as a pillow. It was nice to get away  
from the house, her parents, and from reality for awhile. It would always come back though.  
Umi let her hand fall off her forehead and closed her eyes at the dim sunlight passing through  
the leaves of the trees. A soft wind blew the leaves to and fro. A gentle rustling sound was the  
only thing to be heard besides the usual bird chirp.   
'It's nice here.' A soft smile took over her face again. She could almost go to sleep   
there on the rock. If it hadn't been for the voice she would have. Umi jumped up wide awake   
as the wind whispered... it whispered "Umi."  



	2. Love Story 2

O.O oh my goodness. Sorry about the wait folks. Birthday time in the month of July and  
it doesnt help to be in marching band. Sorry about the wait. Its been almost four weeks hasnt  
it? Oppsss.... forgive the grammer mistakes. Since my computer crashed its been a bitch with  
loading all the old programs back on. I haven't got microsoft word back yet. As usual try to  
be kind as this is my first fanfic. Any suggestions? Comments? Questions?  
e-mail me at clef@comic.com Oh and dont sue me. I have no money.   
P.S. Yes I know.. this is a really short chapter. Sorry. *sweatdrops*   
  
  
  
Love Story  
chapter 2; Pawns  
by Tina Plunkett  
Date: August 4-5, 2000  
  
  
  
'It's nice here.' A soft smile took over her face again. She could almost go to sleep   
there on the rock. If it hadn't been for the voice she would have. Umi jumped up wide awake   
as the wind whispered.........."Umi."  
  
In Cephiro:  
  
Clef's eyes flew open and the vision cleared. Umi had been there. She was sitting on  
a rock with her head tilted back smiling and her eyes were closed in reflection. Her name had  
formed upon his lips and he had whispered her name. Almost instantely the vision seemed to   
hear his words and turned. "Umi..."  
A dull thorbing in his chest reminded him that he himself had not dreamed it. A spell  
of clearvouance and he saw her. Was she truely what his heart wanted to see? The thought had   
hit him to do a clearvouance spell to check on the land of Cephiro but had something gone   
wrong? Had his heart wished for something else to see?  
His hand trembled as he brought it up in front of his face to push back some of his  
lavender color hair. The hand holding the staff drifted up again while his shoulders relaxed.  
His aqua blue eyes closed and there she was again. "Umi? Can you hea..."   
A loud crash and shuffled feet brought Clef out of his trance. His eyes flew open.  
Shouts could be heard from down the hall. Then everything was silent. 'What was that?'  
Clef swung around to face the door which had started to open.  
"Madoushi Clef..." Ferio cleared his throat in the doorway. A look of surprize etched  
across his face and soon Clef's face reflected the same as a familiar blonde head looked around  
Ferio's shoulder.  
"Goodevening Madoushi Clef. It is so nice to see you again." Fuu smiled and inclined  
her head. "Hikaru is down the hall visiting Lantis if you wish to speak to her. Is there a reason   
why we were summoned back?"  
"I..." Clef's mouth gaped and then he closed it. A frown creased his features in the slant   
the midday sun which streamed through the glass cieling above him. The rays that fell to the  
floor swirled up dust in the air or appeared to have tiny slow swirling tornados of dust trapped  
in a barrier of light. He shifted silently disturbing a swirling ray of light and sent the contents  
to fly off to other rays of light.   
"I have not summoned you back. As you know only the pillar may summon those  
from another world." His voice sounded deft to his ears. A hoarse voice, as if it hadn't been  
used for years, sighed froth from his lips. Clef cleared his throat, silently cursing. "Has Hikaru  
been wishing for a return to Cephiro?" Clef balled his free hand into a fist and brought it up to  
his mouth. It was a habbit while he pondered to do so and closed his eyes as if the answer  
would suddenly appear before him.   
  
On Earth:  
  
There it was again. The same whispering voice. The same voice she could now barely  
recall in her memory of Cephiro. "Clef....?" Umi turned almost expecting to see the small  
mage behind her. However, her gaze had meet with the trees and shrubs she had peered at   
before. Nothing had changed not even with the movement of the gentle breeze.   
Umi let her hand fall from her eyes. The sun filled her vision again. It blazed through  
the dense shadow of the trees and fell in patches with the green leaflit of canopey.   
'I should be going,' She thought with a downward glance at the stone underneath her   
when something caught her gaze. The stone was different then before. When she had sat down  
the stone had been a huge round stone with a flat surface. It retained its shape. The thing that  
had got her attention was the writing on it. Rune like writing, the same writing on the walls  
of the mashin.   
She released a breath she just realized she was holding. The dream. This stone was in  
her dream. The one of the forest of silence. Could it be? 'What does this mean?' Her hand   
brushed across a blue tainted rune. 'Something is missing from the stone.'  
"Excuse me miss are you lost?"  
Umi turned to see a hunched old priest leaning on a walking stick. His robes rustled  
in the wind. For a moment time stood still again. 'Boy its been doing that alot. As if in one  
second there is eternity.' A hand lifted to her throat almost protectively and then stopped to   
linger on a necklace.   
"Miss?"  
"Uhh, no Im fine. Can you tell me what this rock means sir?"  
The old priest squinted in the light as he took feeble steps forward. "The stone? I don't  
suppose I really know. Its been here since I can remember." His breath came in shortened gasps  
as he approached.   
"Im sorry to trouble you then. I'll be on my way..."  
"Wait..."  
"Yes sir..."  
"Do you see the writing?"  
Umi stopped and looked back at the stone. Sure enough the writing was still there. If  
the old priest was going to accuss her of putting it there...."Yes sir. It was like this when I got   
here."  
"Umi, thats a lie." The old man looked up. His eyes had been downcast the whole time  
and he had not once looked up. However now he glanced up. Looked directly into her eyes and  
reflected the same aqua blue gaze that meet his own eyes.   
"How did you..." She didn't understand or even comprehend.   
"Hikaru and Fuu are already in the other world. The pawns are set. What you see in  
this stone is a ancient language. A history... or as we speak a sort of fortune telling."  
"How do you know about us?" Her guard was up. Either to run or to fight.   
Appearances could be decieving especially when involving Cephiro. "What do you want?"  
"To help..."  



	3. Love Story 3

Okay back again. . No band camp, no   
marching, no summer reading.Tina---'I am not amused' Dont sue me. No money... as of  
now and these lovely characters are not mine. I wish.   
Tina--------- Currently has X on the brain.  
  
  
  
  
  
Love Story  
chapter 3; The Dreaming/Enter Umi's Dream  
by Tina Plunkett  
August 19-31, 2000  
  
  
  
  
  
Running. It started with running. Or was it the running that came first? No, the  
running had to come later after she was alone. That was right. So then... how had it started?  
She remembered fog. Before? Yes, right before she entered the forest. Why had she gone into  
the forest? And when had she started to have that same terrible dream? A dream that never   
ended. It had no ending. Or did it?   
  
  
Enter Umi's Dream / The Dreaming  
****  
"Mama..."   
"Stay there dear..."  
"Mama.. Look!"  
"Dont play in the mud. Umi! Dont lose your hat!"  
"Mama! Look!"  
"Not now Umi. Stay right here. Don't go anywhere."  
"Mama..."  
A little girl with short blue hair looked up towards the shadowy figure shilouted  
against the sun. A foggy haze had settled over the area which had turned the daylight into a  
misty filled world. In mere seconds the sun filtered less and less through the fog which sent  
fractured shadows thrown down on the sun warmed grass. The little girl who sat there patiently  
waiting could not guess at the time that those same shadows darkened by the onset of fog was  
the same shadows she had played under earlier that day. Played while her mother watched on  
from afar waiting on her father.   
"Mama?" Her toes hardly reached the ground below where she was sat. Terrified of  
the sudden change in weather she could hardly stay still. The shadows loomed in horrific   
claw shapes that seemed to reach out and grasp at her clothing.   
It had been hard for her to stay there let alone stay still. Her finger tips had trmbled.  
When a sudden torrent of a breeze yanked her hat off her head and sent it to rest a few feet  
away on a tree branch fear held her there. However her mother's warning came back to her.  
It had hung over her head. 'Dont lose your hat.' The same hat her father had bought her not  
more then three days ago from the US.   
  
****  
  
A moment, for that was all it took, she tried to recall it. To bring it back to the   
begining. There, where it had first started. If it truely had started at one place. If the  
dream was in fact just that a dream or was it a reality?  
She had been able to recall the dream but how had she gotten into the forest? Her hat  
had not been with her once she entered the forest. Could she have lost it before hand? A  
confusing mess all jumbled up. Her dre...memory. Umi pursed her lips and looked up at the   
old man who sat across from her at a large wooden table. He looked over at her. His robes   
askew and his staff propped up against the table.   
Tama, the old man, settled deeper in his chair. Twenty minutes had passed while  
the old man filled her in about himself. He was the local monk. Left alone with the deteriating   
shrine. The man looked fragile in the big wooden chair. His robes stained and creased with the  
wear of years. In her first glance at the old man she had been frightened and then worried. This  
man, despite her apparent fears, would not harm her. He even seemed familier.   
The crook of his neck. The way he tilted his head down and looked up with his eyes.  
If he smiled she would have sworn his eyes closed in a found memory. His eyes troubled her.  
There was deep unbridled fear hiding in those depths.   
The old man looked worried. She should have been afraid of him even at this point  
but she had earlier calmed her fears. His said blue eyes spoke volumes to her without him   
having to whisper one word to her. His brows nitted together.  
"Your staring young lady.."  
Umi blinked and turned red. She really hadn't ment to stare at the old man but she   
couldn't help it. He seemed so familiar. There was something about how he held himself. The  
way he conducted himself. Tama's white locks of hair fall into his eyes.   
"Im sorry Tama."   
"Please do not apologize. Now, can we start with what you remember of that day so  
long ago?"  
"What?"  
Tama sighed and closed his eyes. In his mind it was so easy just to explain the   
situation to the girl. He wanted to tell her what was going to happen. How long dead foes would   
rise again. There was so much to explain to her but he couldn't just drop everything. They only   
had a limited amount of time to talk before he too would be gone. He had waited here for a long   
time to tell her this and now he felt it difficult just to say one word in her presence. 'Umi...how   
long I've waited for this.'  
On Earth ones will did not control everything. It controlled little. Fate was the key on   
Earth. Luck and chance play pivotal roles alone. They shaped and guided people into their lives.  
He didn't want that. He wanted will on Earth as much as on Cephiro. Everything was so   
disorganized.  
"Umi, I want you to listen to me. Listen to me closely..."  
"Huh?"  
"Were you paying attention to me?"  
Her vacant stare gave him the clue. A hint of scarlet creeped across the bridge of her  
nose and touched her cheeks.   
"Your going back to Cephiro or they are coming to you."  
"Nani?"  
"You are going.."  
"Whos coming to me?"  
Tama sighed. It was the hard part. The question would arise and he would have to   
answer it. He had hoped that she would delay the inevitable.  
"Your loved ones," He breathed out in a gentle sigh.   
"Thats... good..."  
"They will come to destroy you...."  
"What?!" Umi stared at Tama. Disbelief etch on her face. A look of uncertainty   
passed before her. Her loved ones would come to destroy her from Cephiro. 


	4. Love Story 4

Love Story  
chapter 4; Falling Angel  
by Tina Plunkett  
September 27-October 9, 2000  
  
  
  
"What?!" Umi stared at Tama. Disbelief etch on her face; a look of uncertainty   
passed before her. Her loved ones would come to destroy her from Cephiro if she had  
understood Tama correctly.   
"My loved ones? But Tama... how do you know?"  
The earth shook beneath their feet sending Umi sprawling to the ground as Tama  
fell to his knees. Tama turned his head far enough to see the circle stone. It wouldn't be long  
if she didn't go. If she wasn't sent to stop the plague that would befall them.   
"Umi, Listen to me! Im sending you to Cephiro. You have one chance and only one  
chance to correct a greive mistake." Tama clutched the grass in his hands tighter as the   
world seemed to tip away from underneath him.  
"Tama.. I dont understand! What do I have to correct?" Umi flattened herself against  
the ground which heaved itself apparently trying to get rid of the pest crawling across the   
planet's face.  
"No time! Umi close your eyes! I will try to send you word once you are in Cephiro."  
"But Tama!"  
"Now!"  
Umi closed her eyes trying to block out the rumbling ground beneath her. Her ears  
focused on her rapid breathing as her heart played a bugler's taps. Almost instantly the ground  
below her fell away revealing the crystilline blue sky of Cephiro. A floating island mere feet   
in front of her replaced Tama's position as she began her desent spiralling downward; a   
falling angel.   
"Mo ichido...once more.." Umi quietly said to herself as she plumeted through the air.  
Silently she prayed that Fyulu would be back for a third time as had happened the first and   
second time to catch her before her death. The same gut renching feeling hit her. When she   
made it back to Earth the first thing on her to do list definately wasn't to go parachuting.   
Misty clouds brushed her check in her desent, earthbound. Tiny brown specks grew  
in size. Slowly they gathered into patches. The green forest of Cephiro dotted the hills. A large   
patch of green by a mountainous regin marked the Forest of Silence. Details blossomed and  
became sharper as the destance between Cephirean ground and her shortened.   
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god..."  
  
*************  
  
"I don't know. She wasn't with us when we were teleported here." Fuu balanced a   
tea cup on her knee while she spoke with Clef and Ferio. Her soft feminine voice caressed the  
air around her in velvet waves. "I tried calling her before I went out with Hikaru to see if she   
would like to come with us. Hikaru and I planned a visit to Tokyo Tower."  
Hikaru glanced up at the mention of her name. Her attention drawn towards Mokona  
and the dark haired swordsman sitting by her side.Her hands folded around Mokona in a   
light hug. The ever present smile flashing on her face.   
"Her mother said that Umi was on a walk and would not return untill later that evening.  
Umi had asked me to go walking with her the night before but I refused. " Fuu lifted her head  
peering out a window behind Ferio. An island floated far off in the distance, fluffy white clouds  
drifted lazily, and a bird took a sharp dive to the ground. A tiny blue sparrow dived down  
into a throng of bugs. The yellow beak snapping at the tiny flying insects.   
"Should all three Magic Knights be transported together?" Lantis moved his cape   
over for the strawberry haired girl to sit beside him. Her body warmth filled the space between   
them.   
Clef's eyes had a worry deposited in their depths. If the two Knights, which sat in the  
room chatting with him, came from the same area as before then it seemed logical that  
the third would be here. Although she would not be coming from the same space which ment  
she would appear in another area. Clef's eyes widened.   
  
*************  
  
A final scream issued out of her throat before she balled up in fetal position awaiting  
the enivatable thud to the carpet of Cephiro. Blackness shielded her eyes. She had shut her  
eyelids tight, hiding, from the fall. It was going to hurt... 


	5. Love Story 5

Love Story  
chapter 5;   
by Tina Plunkett  
January 2- 3 , 2001  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Here... hold my hand."  
  
She looked down at the small hand offered to her. A misty film laced the area and slightly blurred the edges of  
the hand against the black soil of the forest. A tree root jutted up from the ground below where the hand hovered to  
take hers.   
  
"I'll help you over."  
  
Her feet were rooted to the spot. A sense of dread clouding her better judgement. What was it that her mother  
had always told her? When she was lost to stay there and someone would find her. If she moved then her mother  
would not find her. All she had wanted to do was get her hat. The hat that daddy had brought back from America. He  
would be sore if she lost it.   
  
Her brand new outfit was torn from jagged thorns which twisted out from branches below her knees. Mud  
caked her shoes, stockings, and her palms. She should have stayed back, back where she had first awoken but the  
stranger seemed so worried about her safety. A single muddy tear streamed its way down her check. Finally she had  
built up enough courage to speak to him.  
  
"Im tired."  
  
The boy stared at her in shock. Having said nothing and only indicating she understood by simple shakes of  
her head those two words rocked the boy backwards.  
  
"Tired?"  
  
"Here.."  
  
***  
  
".....drink this."  
  
"Where did you find her?"  
  
"I didn't find her. She found me. Tama must have..."  
  
Umi's eyes flew open. She winced at first as black shadows began to transmorph themselves into human  
forms. When her eyes finally adjusted to the candle light in the small room two people sat by the bedside. Bedside?  
The last thing she could remember was falling from the sky. If she was dead the place sure didn't look like something   
she had imagined as an after life. In fact it seemed like a small village house from..... Cephiro.  
  
"Oh god," she mumbled and closed her eyes once more. So it wasn't a dream. 'Hold up. Yes, you did have   
a dream. What was it though? Who was that boy?'  
  
"You've been saying that for awhile my dear."  
  
A young man scawled towards the old woman by his side. Obviously the woman seemed to take humor  
in their dire situation. Aggitated he shuffled his feet trying to give off the impression he no longer needed the services  
of the local healer. Finally with the old woman paying him no heed he gently nudged her shoulder with an intense  
gaze at the door.   
  
"Crone, could you excuse us? I need to talk to this.... girl who fall from the sky."  
  
Umi could have sworn that the youth had said something about Tama. A foggy memory Tama was. Tama,  
an earthquake and then suddenly falling down towards the land of Cephiro- it was almost to much. Her hands gathered  
under her supporting her up making eye contact with the boy.  
  
Boy wasn't the word for it. More like young man. No, incorrect also. Much like Clef this boy's eyes belied his  
outer age. They held an ancient truth deep within the depths that she could not begin to fathom. His long snow white  
hair was pulled back at the nap of his neck into a straight ponytail, though a few shorter hairs hung around his eyes  
giving the impression he had once had a forehead full of bangs. His uneven bangs threated to hide his violet eyes  
from the sun light streaming in from a nearby window. A haunted expression masked his face, void to all thoughts.  
Those two cryptic eyes misting and swirling like smoke in the confines around his pupil. Changing hue...tone as new   
thoughts emerged into his mind. But how did she know that? She figured it was his inner workings that reflected in  
'the mirrors of the soul'. A tight clasping upper ear earring adorned his left ear. Silver metal with a dark purple jewel   
clasps firmly to his ear. Other than his wrist guards and boot trimings he appeared to be wearing no other armor.   
He wasn't not musculer in the bukly sense but nicely built. A pendent of black opal adorns his neck laced in silver.   
  
Her eyes traveled lower taking in the length of his arm. The way he held himself. Silver wrist bands with  
smaller matching opal gems clasped tightly to his wrists. For a moment Umi paused on those bands. They had   
used something like those bands in some land. If she had paid attention to her history lesson she might have figured  
out that on Earth before the middle ages they were considered slave bonds, however, they probably served as armor  
against magic in the world of Cephiro. An overcoat of flowing white robe partially hides baggy silk black pants  
and an ebony high necked vested top which buttons from shoulder to his throat. The collar ,to the top, folds over the   
outer white coat which is trimmed in silver. As usual matching his outfit. She knew she was staring at this point by the  
way the boy, no, young man clasped his hands together fidgeting. However, his appearance was abnormal. Not   
abnormal for a Cephirean court but for peasentry. He had to be some type of dignatary.   
  
She wetted her lips but continued her gaze downward towards his feet. His black pants tucked into calf high   
black leather boots tipped on the brim with silver metal and white/black opals. She cleared her throat, not wanting to  
speak untill she knew who it was who stood before her. She couldn't gap all day at the man.  
  
"Did you say Tama?" Umi inquired in barely a whisper. Her voice cracked up the silence, breaking the ice.  
  
Gentle searching eyes focused on her lips. His own begining to form a replie. "Yes I did. Did he send you?   
Please, I need to know."  
  
Foe? Or friend? Umi glanced quickly beside her. A door to the left and a wall to her right. If she need to escape  
it would be just a few feet to the door. What was she thinking? Escape? She hadnt even established grounds with  
the boy but she was aslready thinking of escape routes. How tipical of her to do so.  
  
"Im sorry you must be tired." His eyes smiling at her even when his mouth remained level.   
  
"Tama sent me." Umi felt like she was trapped in some gangster movie at the moment. 'Yeah.. big freddie  
sent me.' Now all she need was oozie. Wasn't that a picture? Her check's flushed at her smile. Faced with death  
then strangers she couldn't help but laugh at her own mental words.   
  
"Wh..what?"  
  
"Nothing nothing. Tama sent me here. My name is Umi."  
  
"Ragyn. Its nice to meet you. About Tama...."  
  
**************  
  
Ferio brushed hair out of his eyes and glanced over at Fuu sitting on the ground pausing to smell the local  
flowers. The eternal breeze that kissed her sun golden hair floated across her skirt ruffling it up. Her warm breath  
fogged up the wire framed glass perched upon her nose while a hand drifted to smooth down the surface. Her redden  
cheeks asking quietly if he had seen anything a man should not see. Slowly he raised his chin to level their gazes  
together. Wide yellow eyes taking in her squinting green eyes.   
  
"Fuu.." Like the wind her name whispered the distance to her, an invisible passenger of some invisible   
air current. No trouble presented itself to Cephiro since Hikaru had made her wish as the pillar. But that fact did   
not stop the Knights from appearing. Clef assumed it had to do with the hearts of the Knights, that they wanted  
to be in Cephiro and he truely hoped that that was the only reason but there was something darker around the edges  
of Clef's voice. Something he wasn't letting onto. Ferio brandished a wide smile blocking his fears from showing.  
It woldn't be good to make Fuu worry so much. In the last battle... he could tell the effects of it from her lithe form.  
  
'Damn it' he thought. Why would Clef hide something from him, the Prince? Was he even a Prince any more   
with Cephiro's Pillar system the way it was. Shaking his head he leaned down shifting his weight on his right leg then   
lowered down to his left, sitting near Fuu. He barely towered above her but enough to block the sun out of her eyes.  
  
"Ferio..." She answered his call on the wind.   
  
"Hhhn?" He blinked adjusting the frame of his mind. It wasn't good getting distracted by worries. Hadn't he  
escaped them once by forgetting them?  
  
"Do you think Clef will find Umi?"  
  
A glove hand scratched his head then slowly captured her hand in his. "Fuu. Please dont trouble yourself. I   
know he'll find her. If not we will start a search for her early in the morning."  
  
********  
  
Ascot stretched and shifted uncomfortably. Clef had been searching with his viewer most of the day and  
Ascot was growing tired of it. If Clef couldn't find her this way then he would have to search on her on his own. Using   
one of his friends he could easily travel over exstensive ground. Clef never heard Ascot leave the room.  
  
_________________________________________________________  
  
End note: ehhhh.. gomen I wrote short chapters. Im thinking about combining chapters but I dont know if I would  
confuse some of the new comers.. or old ones. ehhh. I've written the better part of this today. I would write more  
but I dont want to tonight.. yet I want to post it really badly tonight.. so Im going to. There. ^.^  
e-mail me at ragyn@hotmail.com or go to my Rayearth rpg at  
http://clefchan.tripod.com/  
thanks 


	6. Love Story 6

Love Story   
chapter 6   
Fantasy   
by Tina Plunkett

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"Tama... I don't really know him. A priest or something.. but he looked so familiar. How do you know him...   
Ragyn?" 

Ragyn sighed. His bangs blew up then slowly drifted down with each breath. His head tiled down in thought.   
She had been sent by Tama which meant that something in the balance between Earth and Cephiro was shifting. Time   
or chance. Her name was Umi. The water controller, Dragon, or one of the three legendary Magic Knights of this time.   
As a child he had spent studying the legends and histories of the old world Cephiro. The pillar system was something of   
the past put away by the last Pillar of the Land, Hikaru but with time shifting would something occur to significantly   
change it? Tama was set up on earth to guard the gate between time and the two worlds. If Tama felt the need to send   
one of the legendary Magic Knights to the past to the gate he was guarding on Cephiro then something horrendous was   
going to happen. 

Umi watched the boy's eyebrows bunch in thought. Almost five minutes had passed in silence and still he   
didn't answer her question. He seemed so lost in thought, in deep troubling thought that she felt bad if she was   
to disturb him. Felt bad? She had gained respect and settled down since the last visit to the land. 

"Tama..." Ragyn blinked as if to clear his internal thoughts. "Tama is the guarding of time between Cephiro and   
Earth. Time has begun to shift differently in the past or rather in your present and my past." 

A unwavering stare was drawn from Umi towards Ragyn. 

"So what do you mean? This sounds like Back to the Future or some other crazy American film...." 

"I mean that a few years ago in your time, Earth time, something happened that wasn't supposed to. Or maybe   
it was. I don't know but whatever it is we have to stop Cephiro from going back to the old Pillar system." 

"But Hikaru stopped it and why should I even believe what your saying?" Umi pushed the covers off her legs,   
swung them up and over the bed, and stood up. "I have to go. Im sure Hikaru and Fuu are worried about me. I was   
supposed to meet with them at Tokyo tower." Actually, hadn't she told Fuu that she couldn't go? 

"I can't make you believe me and I can't make you stay. I would like you to consider helping me find the problem.   
And even if you say no I'll escort you to the Castle. The forest of silence separates us from the castle." 

The forest of silence. There it was again. She had hoped never to look at it, with all the monsters at every   
corner. Magic couldn't help you in the forest of silence and sometimes swords couldn't either. The major tool in your   
arsenal had to be your wits, your mind. Once slip could cost you your life. At first it had been a game with her aspiring   
to be a witch but it had become a terrible reality. 

"Umi?" 

She was taking this to seriously since the nightmares had begun. She just needed to relax. Perhaps she did   
need a little adventure to settle herself down. Accepting Ragyn's mission if it could take her away from the dreams   
at night. In her thought about nightmares she hadn't realized that as she sleep prior to waking up to Ragyn she had   
dreamed about the forest of silence in the land that had always pushed aside the nightmares. She had missed a key   
in a world of locks. 

"all right. I'll help you... but is there any way we can go around the forest of silence?" 

"Im afraid not. It would take to long." 

* * *

Ascot stretched and shifted uncomfortably. The couch he rested on was forming a groove around him.   
Clef had been searching with his viewer most of the day and Ascot was growing tired of it. If Clef couldn't find her this   
way then he would have to search for her on his own. Using one of his friends he could easily travel over extensive   
ground. His overcoat swung against his legs while he pivoted around to look at the door. Clef never heard Ascot leave   
the room. 

"Umi.." He sighed into the wind blowing past his face. Even in the warmth of summer, the eternal summer of   
Cephiro, it seemed cold. His clothing held no protection for the sudden chill in the air. No clouds appeared in the sky   
above him to signal an on coming rain, and magic traces didn't linger in the air. He shivered inwardly trying to grasp   
at the dark cloud gathering in his mind. 

Ascot lowered his head and touched the air. A golden pentagram formed shining like golden string that the   
fates spin. He needed the aide of one of his friends. A flying creature with huge feathery wings, a body of a lion, and   
the head of a strange gray wolf. A close cousin to the griffin. His hands ruffled the fur around its neck and the huge   
beast pressed against his scratching hands. 

"Requiem... hey. I need your help old friend." He pulled himself up on the back of the creature. He would   
concentrate his search near the forest of silence since Clef could not use his magic to search through it. Being a   
Magic Knight even could not save her from some of the monsters that lurked there. Especially a particular flying   
bird beast that could not be killed by sword attacks. 

His overcoat flapped in the wind as Requiem rose up above the land of Cephiro. The town gathered around   
the castle slowly tapered out and soon was replaced by farmland, plans, and the occasional outpost. The closes   
village to the Forest of Silence lay fifteen miles away from it. There had even been talk of moving it further away   
after the land of Cephiro began a rebuilding process......after Emeruald. Ascot coughed into his hand and reached for his   
hat as a sudden gust of wind pulled at it. A little to late, the hat tumbled downward through the occasional cloud cover.   
He sighed. That had been the second hat he had lost this month to an adventure through the sky. But the hat wasn't   
important... Umi was. Requiem turned sharply sensing the aura of the Forest of Silence. Now if only some of the clouds   
would dissipate from covering the area. 

The black and emerald jeweled hat kept tumbling toward the ground. Sometimes plunging like a speeding   
bullet and other times catching a breeze to float softly down for awhile. Finally, without much gusto, it landed outside   
a small house as a figured stepped out into the sun. 

Umi rubbed her eyelids against the sun's assault. The fresh air filled her nostrils. So much for the air in Tokyo.   
A black thing dropped from the sky about a yard away. It rolled over as another wind current brushed past them.   
She had an urge to run after it and grab it. Her hat. Her hat, she couldn't lose her hat... but it wasn't her hat. And why   
did her thoughts suggest it? Her eyes followed the hat in its roll when a green and yellow glint flashed. No wonder   
the hat looked so familiar. Ascot! It had to be Ascot's hat or a close facsimile of it. Her legs took off where her mind   
stopped. A quick sprint took her the full distance to the object. 

"Umi! Wait! What are you doing?" Ragyn bolted out the door to follow after her if she planned some type of   
escape. An escape wouldn't be logical because he agreed to help her or she had agreed to help him but unknowingly.   
He stopped when she started walking back with a black rag in her hands. Or rather, on closer inspection, a black hat   
trimmed in gold and deep green emeralds. "What... a hat?" 

"This hat looks like.... a friend's hat. He's a summoner at the castle. Bal Ascoto. Ascot." She looked up   
at the sky line hoping to see a glimpse of anything that would give her reason to where this hat had fallen from.   
If her guess had been right then the two other Knights had appeared near the castle safely which would leave some   
suspecting that she might have also been called but somewhere else. She was hoping that her guesses were right.   
She had been in a different location then Hikaru and Fuu but would that explain her being transported to a different   
area in Cephiro. 

Ragyn nodded. "Perhaps they felt your entrance in this land and are looking for you. That would help us out   
greatly if we meet up with them. I would indulge you that this is a sign that they are near." He sighed and followed   
her gaze upward. "It would also seem they are traveling around the forest of silence through the air. However we will   
have to travel through the forest, on foot." 

Umi frowned. There it was again. Going through the forest of silence on foot like so many months ago. Months   
ago...? How long had it been for Cephiro? What was the time difference between the worlds... dimensions any ways?   
She stopped fidgeting with the hat and stared up at Ragyn. "all right. Lets go to the castle... but do you have a sword I   
could borrow?" 

Ragyn smiled softly. "Yes. It's inside by the bed. I think it will suit you Magic Knight. " He hefted the bag of   
supplies over his shoulder and waited for her. The trip would, no doubt in his mind, pull them a little closer together   
and perhaps he would gather all the trust he would need from her. Trust was a big commodity when you planned on   
stabbing someone in the back. They would always chalk it up to denial. 

"This it?" 

"Yes." 

"Okay, Im ready." 

*********************** 

Clef paused and cleared his throat. Exhausted he sat down and summoned up some hot tea from the kitchen.   
The cup almost brimming over with the dark electric taste of Ceilic a herb for settlement in the local area. The Pillar knew   
he needed rest but still to look over into her bright hopeful eyes he could not give her any sign that Umi would be found   
safely. He had little doubt at her ability to protect herself but there was always the possibility that something had   
happened to her. That possibility doubled as more time passed. He hadn't been able to find her yet and a day had   
passed or was it two? Day had passed, night had come and gone, and now it was afternoon again. Two days and   
a night. Now Ascot was gone probably searching for her in his own way. Clef sipped at his tea thinking. He was trying   
to find words of comfort which he wouldn't repeat to Hikaru. 

Finally he decided to be honest with her. His head bent, his eyes filled with worry and a knowledge that   
he could not do much with the current situation unless he traveled like Ascot out. But he couldn't, he thought bitterly,   
he couldn't travel out to save the one... the one what? That was dear to his heart as all the Magic Knights were.   
Yes, as dear to his heart as Emeruald, Lantis... and Zagato had been. His family. His students. He had to stay here   
with the castle, with the pillar and with the Prince as advisor and counselor. 

"Hikaru, It troubles me that I can not find her with my viewer. It could mean two things." Only two? It could   
mean three but I can't think about that right now. I won't think about it right now. "She is in the forest of silence... or   
some one's magic is interfering with mine." But who would be strong enough to do that? Zagato had been and Lantis   
was strong enough to challenge him too but he wouldn't. Lantis would have no motive to block Umi from them, plus   
he seemed just as worried as the rest. 

Clef placed his emptied cup down on the saucer and balled his fists up with his staff in his lap. His head rested   
on his cherub hands. Honestly he felt defeated. "Im sure we will find her with the viewer or Ascot will spot her from the   
air." The Yil felt a small pang of jealousy at the Bal but it quickly passed. He was, after all, a Yil and his first duty   
was to the Pillar. 

__________________________________________________________________________ 

Disclaimer time! These characters are not mine. They belong to the very special group titled "Clamp" and what lovely   
ladies they are! Ragyn is the only character of mine that is original. Thanks for reading!   
  



	7. Love Story 7

Love Story   
Chapter 7; La Luna  
Tina Plunkett  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Tree after tree, empty space, and yet more undergrowth to walk over, around, and through. The Forest of  
Silence seemed to be lacking the monsters she so dreaded fighting. Infact they hadn't meet up with one to count. Unless  
one wanted to count the squirrel like creature that landed on her shoulder only to bundle away with her headband. The   
sunlight sent phantoms spiraling down to the lower depths of forest but there were terrifying minutes sometimes hours  
when they would pass through a patch of forest so dense the sun did not poke behind some branch.   
  
"Ragyn... " She pulled her leg out from a thick area of leaves. "Why aren't there monsters roaming these  
woods anymore? Shouldn't there be.. you know.. lots of monsters which that come from the people's fears?"  
  
"There used to be monsters. The peak reached twice that I can remember." He paused for a moment  
getting his bearings about himself before continuing ahead on the journey. "Once with Princess Emeruade. The people's  
fears were at the highest when Princess Emeruade no longer prayed for Cephiro.. and then before Princess Emeruade."  
  
"Before Princess Emeruade? So we were right in thinking that Princess Emeruade .... was one of many  
such Pillars. There were other Magic Knights?"  
  
"One thing at a time." Ragyn grimanced. Had it sounded too mean? No, he couldn't sound mean. That   
was imparitive to the plan. "The Pillar before Princess Emeruade... well.. he fell in love with a woman. Slowly that love   
well..that love became his life. Princess Emeruade and Prince Ferio's father was the Pillar. Their mother died when   
Ferio came into this world. Learning of the death of the woman he loved... the Pillar...." He frowned staring off into the   
distance. Staring off hundreds of years into the past. "He commited suicide to be beside her. Clef became the Yil just a   
year after that. Im just a little younger than him myself." He smiled pleasantly. "And to answer your other question.. I   
believe so although it was a long time ago since Emeruade's father ruled as long as my parents, their parents, my   
grand parents,and so forth could remember."  
  
"But why aren't there monsters in the forest now?"  
  
"There are... but the people don't fear as much now. Most of the monsters are weak, really." He smiled   
pleasantly.   
  
"So the people got over their fears so soon after Princess Emeruade?"  
  
"So soon?" Ragyn turned towards the blue haired vixen in puzzlement before it slowly dawned on him.  
"Time does pass differently in your world than ours than. If I'm not mistaken your still very young even in Earth standards.  
Right? How old are you and when did you become a Magic Knight?"  
  
"How old am I? Im 17. I was 14 when we first came to Cephiro. Its been three years. Im in the 12th grade  
now. How long has it been in Cephiro?" She looked at him deeply in the eyes. Three years on Earth.. could it be faster   
in Cephirean time? That would explain that weeks, months had past in their two visits yet it had to be a split second on  
Earth.  
  
An erie silence desended on the forest while Ragyn watched Umi take in the thought. Time elipsed, yet  
on Earth people would be frozen in time, moving slower than ever while the Cephirean time speed by. Umi took a step  
forward and stumbled only to be held up by Ragyn's quick reaction. His arms tightened about her shoulder's placing  
her back right up on her feet.   
  
"Umi... You're a mere legend here now. Few scant paintings exist of the Knights and the Rune Gods. It has   
been said Prince Ferio keeps a treasured picture of the one known as Fuu the wind Knight. Lantis had comisioned  
statues of the three Knights in different areas of Cephiro so that everyone may look upon their faces. They don't  
do you justice Umi... except perhaps.." He looked over at her and almost laughed. "Well... I dont think anyone painted  
pictures of you or carved your image into sword hilts like Lantis did with Hikaru. We've wondered what the mysterious  
Knight of Water looked like. In the statues your hair blows partially over your face while your hand keeps it at bay. It  
hides half of your features."  
  
She blushed. "But how... but how long has it been?" She whispered breathlessly.  
  
"At least 500 years. I can't be sure of that. I lived in the time but I had been away visiting Autozam." He cleared  
his throat and let his arms fall to his side as Umi righted herself up.  
  
"500? Ferio? He hasn't married? Lantis?..... Ascot?" Clef had been so old then. 500 years? Could a man live  
over 1000? Did he have a mortal limit in even this land?  
  
"Don't worry. If your thinking about them. No. Ferio could not find it in his heart to love someone other than  
his Magic Knight nor Lantis. Im sure if your fellows have fallen through they have already adjurned to the castle. Lantis,  
and Ferio would be very delighted in their arrival. I still ponder what Tama has up his sleves."  
  
"What Tama has up his sleves?" Umi turned to face him. Her foot taking a step back so that she could gaze  
up into his eyes.   
  
Ragyn jolted out of his thoughts. "Why would we be in need of your survices again?" He tried a wavering smile  
then cleared his throat hastely walking away from the area. "Im sure its nothing big. Anyways, we're wasting time   
standing around gawking like birds. Shall we tarry no longer?"  
  
Five hundred years. It tolled like a bell in her mind reverbrating off the skull only to puncture her sensitive brain  
over and over. Five hundred years and peace reign in the land of Cephiro but they were not forgotten by their love ones.  
Could someone from Earth love that well? And Clef....Ascot...poor Ascot. 'He grew for me and I couldn't stay for him.'  
  
The light coiling down from between the twigs and leaves grew dimmer in intensity. The decending nightfall  
lazily swallowed up the landscape and the vibrant colors along with it. Ragyn's white overcoat swayed in the light before  
night but after day, the weird hour of sunset. Across the sky streamed hues of orange, yellow, and pink. The colors of  
a dying sun which would give birth to the moon. Ragyn grinned in the shadow of a Cocadess tree. "Dusk.... as she   
touches the land she grays everything so that one plant may not be jealous of his brother for the night." He waved his  
hand around touching a flowering plant sparadically. Cephiro was inbedded with myths, legends, and folklore...it was  
their history. His history.  
  
"Dusk... I love the sunset but the sunrise..." Umi looked off trying to spy the sky above the green leaf canopy.  
  
"Let us make camp..."  
  
******************************************  
  
Clef pulled his viewer closer to him. He had switched from the water or mirror viewer to a smaller hand held  
version of crystal where he could pour a smaller yet equally large amount of magic into finding Umi. She had to be  
around the region of the forest. He could bet most anything including his crown on it. The forest of Silence. Why had  
almost everything revolved around that place? Perhaps not everything. The second time the Knights had choosen to   
land in Cephiro had not been swung around getting to Eterna but... He sighed and leaned towards the crystal ball so that  
his forehead touched the cool image of trees.   
  
He almost missed the low light of a fire in the image. Quickly he waved his hand stopping his search. There   
inside the Forest almost to the edge a firelight glowed erily. Why would someone stop when they were almost out of  
the forest of Silence? Anyone in their right minds would want to continue and then rest after exiting the forests unless   
they truelly didn't know how close out they were. If Umi had stumbled through the forest it had been without Mokona to  
guide her. Of course she wouldn't know where the end of the forest was.  
  
Clef smiled. He had found her. All there was to do was send out scouts to bring her back. Ferio would agree to  
that and the Magic Knights would probably go out themselves to bring her back to the castle. He relaxed in his chair.  
And then the screen went black. It didnt vanish it just went black like the fire had been blown out. The stars and moon  
had vanished from the sky. A bad bad omen. Something dark and senister was at work here.  
  
"Ferio!" Clef leaped off his chair forgetting his staff in his hurried gait. If the situation had been less threatening  
he would never run but it was serious.   
  
"Clef what?" Hikaru looked up from her seat in the dining hall where Ferio, Fuu, Hikaru, Lantis, and Mokona had  
retired for late snacks and tea. Her red eyes were pleading for information.  
  
"The view.." He struggled for breath. "The viewer found her. Shes in the Forest of Silence."  
  
"Thats great! We can send out scouts in the morning to meet her and escort her here." Ferio beamed at Fuu.  
  
Lavendar hair spilled into his eyes as Clef shook his head. "No, now! The view went black. A power dark...."  
He frowned trying to make sense of his jumbled thoughts. "A power on the same level as mine was working against me.  
They know we're looking for her. It... it ..." He stopped. What did he want to say? What could it possibly want? "The   
Magic Knights were called back to Cephiro by Cephiro. Something is going to happen."  
  
************************************************  
  
The wind picked up but the bal continued on. Umi, Umi was close. He could feel the tingling along his spine  
that told him he was close. The Forest of Silence had taken awhile to pass around but so far he had traced the area  
untill he had felt that stirring. He blushed. "Umi..." What would she think when he found her and took her back to the  
castle? He would be her hero, her Knight. The thought made him redden more so than usual as he continued his quest  
onward. The beast on which he sat trembled in the wind. Ascot bent over in his seat leaning into the head strong wind.  
  
"Whats wrong?" He had ment to say more but a gall force wind riped him from his place and threw him up  
like a forgotten doll. Blackness surrounded the forest, blackness ate at his vision, and tumbling down towards the   
ground blackness was all that Ascot could see. Not even the moon shone above the blackness that swelled over   
Cephiro in a great tidal wave of enegry eminating from the forest of Silence outward like black hands of death. 


End file.
